The "Big Four" of Los Angeles basketball royalty played in a combined 219 of possible 328 NBA games during the 2022-23 season, barely two-thirds of the games, and bitter fantasy basketball managers clearly noticed.
Still, Lakers Anthony Davis and LeBron James, along with Clippers Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, remained wonderful players, their statistics critically valuable to fantasy basketball teams, but the main and legitimate complaint in recent seasons has been about their lack of games played.
Nobody can make that complaint this season.
In a stunning development worthy of being one of the biggest stories of the fantasy basketball season, James, Davis, Leonard and George entered Thursday having missed a combined 15 of a possible 190 games, finding a way to suit up and thrive for more than 92% of the team's games.
This is startling, especially considering James is 39, and the other three are on the other side of 30, and none of these four played in more than 56 games a season ago.
With 76ers C Joel Embiid's status cloudy due to a knee injury and bringing the league's new 65-game edict for players being eligible for playoff awards to further light, fantasy managers should not view the change as negative. Perhaps Davis, James, Leonard and George would have played most of their games this season regardless of the new rule, but fantasy investors are certainly pleased with the change.
Davis and James remained coveted in ESPN average live drafts, going in the 10-to-15 range, but Leonard and George fell to the fifth round. That discount looks startling and foolish today.
We still await clarity on Embiid's latest knee injury, and whether he will play soon or miss weeks/months. Tremendous Pacers PG Tyrese Haliburton missed a bulk of January games for a hamstring injury, and also seems likely to fall short of 65 games played. It happens. Players do get legitimately injured.
Still, it seems improbable Embiid and Haliburton felt so much pressure to perform to remain eligible for MVP consideration and thus injured themselves more. We need to give the Hall of Famers on these Los Angeles teams credit.
Davis and James enter Thursday ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in ESPN standard points scoring. A season ago, with a combined 53 missed games, Davis was No. 20, James No. 31. They were better on a per-game basis, of course, but fantasy is a volume business, in daily and weekly formats.
Davis averages 35.9 MPG, his most since the 2017-18 season with the Pelicans, along with 24.9 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 3.7 APG and 2.3 BPG. Now in his fifth season as a Laker, this may be his best one yet for fantasy ... if he can keep playing the games.
There is the risk for fantasy managers moving forward. While the Clippers are soaring with new PG James Harden and may earn the top seed in the Western Conference, thus presenting them the opportunity to smartly rest a star player or two in the latter stages of the regular season, the Lakers are in a different situation. They are struggling to earn a play-in spot to make the playoffs.
The physical -- and perhaps emotional -- toll on Davis and James seems noteworthy. This duo can hardly miss games -- or minutes during the games -- for the team to compete.
Meanwhile, for the superior LA team, Leonard seems well on his way to surpassing 60 games played for the first season since 2016-17. It seems unlikely that the league's 65-game edict is the reason why. His numbers mirror last season, which he delivered over 52 games.
Leonard and George are among the top bargains of the fantasy season. George last reached 60 games during the 2018-19 campaign with the Thunder. While Harden's arrival has taken a large slice from George's assists, he is earning considerably better 3-point shots. George is hitting 41% from the 3-point line, and only two players have hit more 3-pointers.
Ultimately, as we hit February, the month of the NBA trade deadline and All-Star game, the most significant numbers for fantasy basketball, at least so far, are not Embiid's mammoth scoring average or Haliburton myriad assists or another phenomenal explosion of Stephen Curry 3-pointers, but the games played for these dueling stars from the Los Angeles franchises.
We still have a few more months to go, but sometimes the best "ability" is simply availability, and this season, we have all been presented a delightfully unexpected surprise we should be thankful for.
Other surprisingly durable stars
Here are five other players that many fantasy managers may have faded on draft day due to similar concerns about durability, but perhaps that was in error.
Kevin Durant, SF/PF, Phoenix Suns: Durant, 35, enters the weekend having missed only seven games and on pace for his first season of 60-plus game since 2018-19 with the Warriors. His production has never been in doubt. The Suns finally have played their way into the top-6 out West. Would Durant have missed more games if the Suns had more wins? Let's not be skeptical. This is a top-10 fantasy option who went in the middle of Round 2.
Damian Lillard, PG, Milwaukee Bucks: Lillard, 33, missed nearly half of Portland's games over his final two seasons, but he will enter the weekend having missed only three games with his new, contending squad. Lillard's statistics are significantly down in scoring, assists and 3-pointers, but he remains a top-20 fantasy points option who went in that range on draft day.
Jaren Jackson Jr., PF/C, Memphis Grizzlies: Jackson, 24, seemed to alleviate concerns about his missed games during the 2021-22 campaign, playing 78 contests, then he missed 19 games last season. The Grizzlies are a mess this season, and Jackson has missed only two games, though we can worry things change later in the season. Jackson's rebounds and blocks are down, but they should bounce back as his teammates return to health next season.
Zion Williamson, PF, New Orleans Pelicans: Williamson, 23, is certainly not an older player like others in this space, but he missed most or all of three of his first four NBA seasons. This season, he has missed 10 of his team's 48 games. This does not make him ultra-durable Mikal Bridges, of course, but at least Williamson remains a threat to appear in 65 games. The bigger concern: he is outside the top 60 in fantasy scoring, at only 22 PPG and 5.5 RPG. Now we can ignore him in the early draft rounds because of his numbers, not solely due to missing games.
James Harden, SG/PG, LA Clippers: Let's go full circle with this one. Harden, 34, was an unhappy member of the 76ers when most fantasy managers drafted, and many ignored him, since he fell out of the top 50 in many leagues. Today he is among the top 30 in fantasy scoring, his numbers certainly depressed from prior seasons (17.2 PPG, 8.5 APG) but still quite relevant. Harden played in 58 games last season. He has missed only five games this season, and here is the kicker - none since joining the Clippers. See, everyone can change. Everyone.